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Monthly Archives: July 2011

Delhi to Shimla

Just a small update for everyone with regard to the road condition between Delhi and Shimla as it stands as of a few weeks ago
First the good news. The stretch from Delhi to Panipat now is simply awesome ( excluding ofcourse our traffic behavior) , the entire stretch from Azadpur to the delhi border has been done up with a series of flyovers placed as well cutting the time drastically. Wide open roads with very few lights ensure that you can zip through this stretch now , a welcome relief from all the years it has taken for this to be completed.

The bad news. Panipat to Ambala is current a massive work in progress project. NHAI is expanding the road to make it into an 8 lane stretch. Good intentions but it makes for poor driving at this point . The current length of the road has been reduced and there are very few straights now available to build and maintain a decent pace. In many places the stretch is only about 500 km’s before there is a small diversion in aid of a flyover pillar being placed. A bit frustrating if you are trying to push but once ready ( not sure when) i am sure this will be an excellent stretch

The flyover work at Zirakpur is over ( FYI for those not aware – post Ambala the expressway has been fully functional for quite sometime now). Traffic is bad but more owing to bad driving than anything else.

The best part and something i have been looking forward to for years is the new stretch between Zirakpur all the way to Parwanoo. A brand new road , with 5-6 flyovers built in makes it a delight now. I managed the run ( which is approx 30 -35 odd kms) in less than 20 minutes , a far cry from the days when it used to take as much as 45-60 mins depending on traffic.

Once at Parwanoo of course the problems which have plagued this area and further on Kalka continue to exist , but there is a bypass being built now which will come out a little before Timber Trail once completed ( not sure when) which promises to , if not reduce time, at least make the drive less stressful.